Former Newark Police Officer Gets 3 Months For Section 8 Scam

NEWARK – A former Newark police officer was sentenced to three months in prison for conspiring with another person to fraudulently obtain payments under the federal public housing assistance program known as “Section 8,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Suliaman Kamara, 32, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to one count of agreeing with another individual to obtain Section 8 public housing benefits to which they were not entitled.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

The Section 8 Program is a federal public housing assistance program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It provides rent subsidies to qualified low-income individuals. HUD provided federal grant money to the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) for the Section 8 Program. Under the NHA’s Section 8 Program, a tenant’s rental assistance was based upon the tenant’s anticipated family gross income. Tenants receiving Section 8 assistance from the NHA had to inform the Newark Housing Authority of all the members of the household and the annual household income.

From September 2006 to December 2011, Kamara, then a Newark police officer, lived in Newark with another individual (identified in court papers as “S.L.”) who was receiving Section 8 benefits. For most of that time they lived in a property owned by Kamara. They agreed they would not disclose to the NHA that they were living together so that Kamara’s income would not be taken into account in determining whether S.L. qualified for Section 8 benefits. Kamara and S.L. submitted fraudulent information and documents to the NHA in which they failed to disclose that Kamara lived with S.L. and was earning household income. Kamara and S.L. obtained more than $60,000 in Section 8 benefits to which they were not entitled.

In addition to the prison term, Wigenton sentenced Kamara to two years of supervised release.

Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Cary Rubenstein, for the investigation of this case.